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During the inquiry, the MPs heard from accountants, IT experts and charities that RTI will burden employers with new administrative work. Many will be unable to comply, the MPs heard.

In a report today, the MPs questioned whether the “very ambitious” timetable for the new system leaves opportunity for dealing with problems which may arise.

Ministers have insisted that RTI is on schedule and will be in place to support the new welfare system. However, the committee said that when it asked detailed questions about the project, officials failed to provide evidence to support ministers’ confidence.

“We did not receive satisfactory responses to our questions about these detailed issues in either our formal evidence session or our informal meetings with DWP and HMRC officials. It is therefore unclear whether these issues are under control or what measures will be put in place to deal with problems.”

Dame Anne Begg, the Labour MP, suggested that ministers were unprepared for problems with the reform. “There appears to be no contingency if the IT system doesn’t work,” she said.

Because of the importance of the project, Dame Anne said, the Government should consider relaxing its timetable for welfare reform.

“We believe that the Government should reflect on the possible consequences of these major benefit changes for some of the most vulnerable people in society and that it should consider modifying its implementation timescale if those consequences cannot be adequately addressed before national roll-out begins,” she said.

The DWP insisted that it was confident that RTI will work as planned, but said that Universal Credit can function even without the new tax information network.

A DWP spokesperson said: “The RTI pilots are going well and we have every confidence that the system will be ready for Universal Credit.”